macaroon

American  

[mak-uh-roon] / ˌmæk əˈrun /

noun

1. a drop cookie made of egg whites, sugar, usually almond paste or coconut, and sometimes a little flour.

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macaroon British  

/ ˌmækəˈruːn /

noun

1. a kind of sweet biscuit made of ground almonds, sugar, and egg whites

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Usage

What’s the difference between a macaroon and a macaron? A macaroon is a kind of drop cookie made with egg whites, sugar, and often coconut—and sometimes with ground almonds and maybe a little flour. A macaron is a round, colored sandwich cookie made with egg whites, sugar, and often ground almonds, with a buttercream, ganache, or jam filling. Macarons are known for coming in many different flavors and colors. The two cookies are made with some of the same basic ingredients, including sugar and egg whites, but they have very different appearances and textures. Macaroons look like this:https://twitter.com/FoodalBlog/status/1387467462736756739Macarons look like this:https://twitter.com/bouchon_bakery/status/1204038118069944322However, the sandwich cookie properly known as a macaron is sometimes called a macaroon. (The reverse is not the case—it’s not common for the simple drop cookies usually made with coconut to be called macarons.)Making macarons requires quite a bit of skill. They’re delicate and often expensive. Macaroons, on the other hand, are much simpler to make—you basically just mix all the ingredients together and then drop balls of the mix onto a cookie sheet. Macaroons are sometimes dipped in chocolate. To remember the difference (and which spelling to use for each word), remember that macaroon is spelled with two O’s, as is coconut, a common ingredient in macaroons. Here’s an example of macaroon and macaron used correctly in a sentence. Example: I asked my mom to make macaroons for my birthday, but she misunderstood and spent all month learning how to make several different flavors and colors of fancy French macarons. Want to learn more? Read the full breakdown of the difference between macaroon and macaron.

Etymology

Origin of macaroon

1605–15; < Middle French macaron < dialectal Italian maccarone cake or biscuit made of ground almonds; macaroni

Explanation

A macaroon is a cookie or small cake that's usually made with sugar, egg whites, and coconut shavings. Macaroons are soft, sweet, and chewy. Macaroons are not the same thing as macarons, the brightly colored French cookies made with almond paste, sweetened egg whites, and various flavorings, but the words are closely related. The Italian dialectical root of both (as well as the word macaroni) is maccarone, which generally describes a variety of pasty foods, like dough or batter. Coconut macaroons are a popular Passover treat, and are sometimes dipped in chocolate.

Example Sentences

And for dessert they were served a rose macaroon cookie, composed of rose petal cream, raspberries and lychees.

From BBC • Jul. 30, 2024

As far as we can tell, there have been no randomized controlled clinical trials to test Mounds bars or coconut macaroon cookies as treatments for diarrhea.

From Seattle Times • Nov. 15, 2023

For dessert, world-famous pastry chef Pierre Hermé will prepare his rose macaroon cookie, made of rose petal cream, raspberries and lychees.

From Washington Times • Sep. 20, 2023

Take the typical chocolate-covered coconut macaroon, a Passover treat, and cross it with a venerable Mounds bar and you have this hybrid, called Maccs.

From New York Times • Jul. 26, 2021

Nibbling on a macaroon, she stacked the used coffee cups on a tray.

From "The Westing Game" by Ellen Raskin